Fallen (Guardian Trilogy #1) Paperback – December 22, 2011

I enjoyed this, it was something a little different than the supernatural I typically read. Look forward to the rest of the series.

I've never read this author before now. This story is right up my alley! I'm 50 and am loving this story. I lived in N.O. for several years and I like being able to recognize the places described while I'm reading. I'm excited to carve out time to read it during the day, but I can also read this while in bed, winding down to go to sleep.

My favorite thing about this book is the setting, scenery, imagery! I wanted to sit next to Maggie on her balcony, listening to the neighborhood outside her house. To walk the hallway of the afterlife, observe the square where she worked, listen to Felix and Russell bicker back and forth. To help Maggie deliver messages to loved ones.And watch her and Eran interact! Wow! Just amazing work.The only thing I would nitpick at is the lack of intensity of the bad guys. I didn’t feel urgency. The bad guys didn’t have much personality. It felt like too much was relying on them being mysterious with vague rudeness. I understand a lot still hasn’t been told about the story yet concerning them, but I think their characters could have used a bit more “umph” to add to the story.

Interesting book, I liked it except the conversations are written for tweens & teens. It takes me out of the story when the conversations begin between Eran & Mags

I guess I'll be the odd one out here, or at least in the minority. The reviews for Fallen were so good that I went in expecting to like this. It had all the right elements to push my buttons - a talented heroine, a hot hero with more to him than meets the eye, and intriguing villains in an intriguing fantasy world of paranormal intent.But I have to admit, when I got to the end I kind of went...that was it? It just seems like this book is sort of a Twilight doppelganger. Maggie is a teenage heroine who we catch as she moves from one state to another; she's more important than she knows with a penchant for self sacrifice - Elan is a surreally gorgeous hero with a hero's complex and body-temperature issues whose diction is more appropriate for another era. Saving Maggie, he says, is a full time job...which sounds an awful lot like lines from Twilight. Elan is attracted to Maggie but they can't be together - despite that he wants to protect her. If Elan had run cold instead of hot and been a vampire instead of a guardian, I would have called this a tweaked Twilight - Maggie even reviews a list of Elan's impossible qualities to him, demanding to know what he is, and he tells her she's observant.The plot was also kind of slow. Maggie bounced from villain to villain, ignoring her instincts and for the most part the villains just glare at her. The first two attacks on her life almost seem like non-sequiturs; they happen so early in the book and are pretty much never mentioned again. Then boom, the ending hits - the big bad villain shows up so Maggie sacrifices herself, villain attacks with his posse, taunts the heroine who gains glimpses of the bigger picture, and then the hero arrives to save her. In apparently typical heroine fashion, Maggie blacks out while the plot resolves, and the hero's friends take care of the baddies. And we don't even figure out how her power works until literally halfway through the book.It's also riddled with typos and formatting issues. Sometimes half a page is indented entirely differently from the rest of the book, and words that spell check won't catch are often mis-spelled, like scrapped instead of scraped.The good points were that I liked Maggie. I felt like she was someone who was easy to connect to, with human responses for the most part, and Elan is mysterious enough to be intriguing. And the world this is set in is extremely intriguing. I like the idea of numerous lives, guardians, messengers to the dead...it's a neat world. I'd probably have rated this a little higher if we saw more of it.But on the bad side, it felt like I was rereading a typo-ridden version of Twilight in a different setting. I have never ever not read a sequel; I'm new to kindle with only about 20-30 purchases here so far, but I own more physical books than I care to count (which is why I switched to kindle - no more space!) but I was torn over whether to buy books 2 and 3 from this series - until I saw their price tags. If they had been 4 or even 5 a piece I might have shelled it out just for closure, but I can't justify 9-10 a piece for closure on a novel that I spent the entire time going "And now Maggie is going to do _____ and then Elan will ______."

Fallen is the first book in the Guardian trilogy. When I first started this book I immediately took a liking to the main character, Maggie. Her story is a unique one, having lost both her parents as a baby her Aunt Teresa raised her. They traveled a lot due to her aunt's career in photography, therefore dragging Maggie to one school or another her whole life. In turn, Maggie has never had any real relationships with anyone, especially people her own age, rarely welcomed in school, constantly being the new kid. The story begins with Maggie being moved into a new home in New Orleans where she will be living for a year (the longest she has ever lived in one place)while her aunt is away on an extended photography trip. She learns she will also be having a roommate, whom she has never met. As the story continues you learn that Maggie is a messenger for both the living and the dead, being able to bring messages to the afterlife and back. That's where the story truly takes a turn and the events following her first night in New Orleans will keep the pages turning.I really liked this book. At first I felt the writing was pretty amateurish, the words felt too scripted and the story didn't flow very well. What kept me interested was the story itself, I was able to get beyond the writing and style and was quickly so immersed in the story that I had a hard time putting the book down. As the story continued on I noticed the words really started coming together and before I knew it I didn't even recognize the writer from the beginning of the book. It seemed like the author just needed to get the kinks out and from then on the book was very well done, as were the next two books in the series. Other than my earlier reservations on the writing style, which is why I gave the book 4 stars, I found no fault with this book at all. It was so good I immediately bought the second and started reading, and was pleased to see the story picked right up where the other left off. The only thing I can say at this point is that if you don't like fantasy this isn't going to be the book for you. although, the author correlates everything so well that you can almost believe in the fantasy she has created here! Great book!

This is another of those books that baffles me by the number of 5star ratings it's received. Honestly, I just really did not find anything interesting or intriguing in it.I think a big part of the problem was that nothing at all was adequately explained or developed.The characters were all very 2d, and very contrived.Dialogue was cringe-worthy and wooden.There was absolutely no chemistry between Maggie and Eran. Plus, it was another ridiculous insta-love swoon-over-big-strong-protector thingies which always gets my goat a bit. Ok, so it could be argued that they have this long history together or whatever (I haven't read the other books) but Maggie doesn't remember that so, for her, it's very much the cliched 'I barely know you but you are so the one' type affairs.And the bad guys? Oh my days. Shallow and nonsensical. They scowl, they glare, they sneer. They send shivers across her neck but...why??? Give em evil chuckling and hand rubbing and they'd have been full-on B Movie style villains.I hated the ending and her pathetic 'I'm going to save all the ones I care for' decision. Stupid. The final confrontation was...just no. Unbelievable and confusing.Summary: Story was repetitive and the plot was full of holes. I felt empty after reading it.

I don't think I've put any spoilers in, but just be careful in case you don't agree.I downloaded this book from my recomendations and I'm glad I did. I'm very much a reader that enjoys romantic suspense books and this certainly ticks the boxes.I've marked it as 4 stars as I do think some improvements could be made. Mainly the story takes a long time to get going. I seemed to be halfway through the book before anything actually happened which was a shame as I was ready for putting the book down and giving up but I perservered and read on as the latter half of the book really makes up for everything.Maggie really is a loveable character and you know that as you read on to the 2nd & 3rd book there's going to be so much to learn about Maggie, her lives, her friends, her relationships and just how special a person she is.In Fallen we're introduced to Ezra, Rufus & felix who are Maggie's housemates and you are left with a distinct feeling that they know more than they let on but that is yet to be proved otherwise, who knows what will come in books 2 & 3. I think these characters have much more to offer and I love how Laury has created these different characters who are on the edge of the story but still very important to it.We then have the "fallen ones" - How bizzarre these are and suddenly appear out of nowhere in what seems like a very large grouping, I'll not mention to much as I'm sure there is much more to come from these characters but you vcan't help but fall in love a little with Greshom who's a "good baddy" You even think there might be some romance in the air but the ending of the book throws a bucket on the fire with that little bit of my imagination but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Greshom (at least I hope not)Anyways, my favourite part of any story is Eran - the love of Maggie's life, her hero, soul mate and everything in between. I love a good love story and there is so much to discover of the love between Maggie & Eran it's this that keeps me hooked and I can't wait to find out all about their history and see what is to come in the future for these 2.This story is well written, very descriptive in parts maybe a little to much. The characters are well written with many hidden chapters to them that leave you curious and bursting with excitement to read the next installment. The relationships between characters are fantastic and you can truly understand how each person feels.A good start to the trilogy and I am looking forward to getting on with book 2.xx

Reads exactly like the Any A. Bartol Premonition series. Was wondering how she could get away with writing almost exactly the same story. Thought it was an earlier incarnation as the writing is not always polished. Thought I had bought the next available Bartol work when I finished the Premonition series on my Kindle but didn't notice it had offered other alternatives.I even googled to see if the two authors were once and the same.Disappointing. Feels like an inferior rip off, although it does feel after the end of the first book that it night be going somewhere.

I like Laury Falter, I think she is an intelligent writer and her characters are witty and fully developed.The story is good and it keeps you reading and guessing right through all 3 books.The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is mainly the ending of the series, it seemed a bit rushed and kind of abrupt. I don't know if this is because she intends to write more in the future or if she just got so near the end that she couldn't wait to finish.But all in all a very good story and worth reading

Such a brilliant book Laury, well done!Made me cry at the end, soppy romantic that I am.To others thinking about buying this book, go for itI'm a bit put off about buying the other book as I don't really want to pay nearly £8 when the first one was just under £2. :(Anyway, like I aid, great read and brilliant story. Shame about the couple of typo's a spotted within the book though! (Although it was probably me reading it wrong haha)Definitely worth 5 stars :)